Nut-setting machine



June 24, 1930. .1. w. MYERS 1,766,139

NU'i SETTING MACHINE Filled Oct. 20, 1926 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 I N VEN TOR.

A TTORNEY.

TI J June 24, 1930. J. w. MYERS NUT SETTING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Oct. 20, 1926 INVENTOR. X W

. 1'1 TORNEY.

June 24, 1930. w, MYERS 1,766,139

NUT SETTING MACHINE Filed Oct. 20, 1926 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 June 24, 1930;.1. w. MYERS NUT SETTING MACHINE Filed Oct. 20, 1926 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVEN TOR.

A TTORNE Y.

June 24, 1930.

,1. w. MYER S NUT SETTING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet Filed 001;. 20, 1926 IN VEN TOR.

ATTORNEY.

I: w SE22 June 24, 1930. Y J. w. MYERS NUT SETTING MACHINE Filed Oct.20, 1926 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR.

A TTORNE Y.

Patented June 24, 1930 PATENT OFFIFC JOSEPH W. MYERS, JACKSON, MICHIGANNUT-SETTING MACHINE Application filed October 29, 1926. Serial No.142,889.

My invention relates to a nut setting machine and an object of myimprovements is to provide an automatic machine which shall take nutsfrom a hopper, place them upon 5 their respective spindles and set themup to place with the required force.

I secure this object in the machine shown in the accompanying drawingsin which:--

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly broken away, of a machine embodyingmy invention.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the same.

Figure 3 is an elevation looking from the right of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a detail sectional View illustrating the nut actuating wheelwith its shaft and the operation of said wheel.

Figure 4 is a sectional elevation to an enlarged scale approximately inthe plane IV, IV Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a section on the line V, V, Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a sectional elevation to an enlarged scale of the spindleand adjacent parts.

Figure 7 is a' detail section of the lower portion of the spindle ofFigure 6 showing the parts in a diiferent position.

Figure 8 is a sectional elevation to an enlarged scale of the upper edgeof the plate for pickin up the nuts, showing the nut in 30 an invertedposition.

Figure 9 is a similar view to Figure 8 show ing how the misplaced nut isautomatically displaced.

Figure 10 is a detail showing the lever op- 33 crating pedal andadjacent parts in side elevation.

Figure 11 is a detail view looklng from the right at Figure 10.

Figure 12 is an inverted plan view, partly broken away, showing-thedelivery trough,

the lower end of '.he spindle and the nut retaining cage therein.

Figure 13 is a perspective view of the spring retaining cage at thelower end of the spindle.

Figure 14 is a detail section showing a modified form of feed trough, ortrack.

Figure 15 is a detail elevation showing a modified construction. a isthe bench, or support for the operating having bolts as 0 therein whichare to have nuts fixed upon their upper screw threaded ends. 123 is astandard secured upon the upper surface of the bench a and extendingupwardly therefrom. e is a hopper pivoted'at e to the standard 01 andsecured in operative position to the frame of the machine by a suitablefastening e*,e

The nuts to be used are placed in bulk in the hopper e and areautomatically'taken from said hopper and fed into correct position tothe setting apparatus as hereinafter described. If a quantit of nuts isleft in the hopper when a job is nished the fastening e, e is loosenedand the hopper e turned about the pivot e to dump the nuts into aconvenient receptacle.

The hopper e is slotted in a diametrical direction from its right handend to a point somewhat beyond its center, as indicated at 6 6 Figure 2.

j is a triangular plate pivoted at one corner to the frame of themachine at 9". The further edge of said plate is formed in .the are of acircle with its center at the axis of the pivot 7' This plate is soplaced that it shall oscillate about said pivot in the slot e e of thehopper 6 so that its upper edge shall come below the nuts and about tothe bottom of the hopper e at the lower limit of its travel and to theposition shown in Figure 1 at the upper limit of its travel, at whichlatter position it is so indlined that nuts which have fallen into thegroove 8 at its upper edge shall slide along said groove and if inproper position to be used by the machine will be delivered to the feedtrough 8. The bottom of the groove 8 is inclined laterally and has aflange 8 along its upper edge and a flange 8 along its lower edge. Thelatter flange is of'less height than the rise due to the chamfer orfinishing at the upper surface of the nut, so that if the nut falls intothe groove 8 in inverted position when the plate 7' is raised to itsupper position, as shown in Figure 1, the nut will fall over said flangeand back into the'hop or while the nuts that are right side up wi 1 beheld in the trough thereby. I i

ej are baflle plates adapted to keep nuts from falling into the forwardpart of the up- .per surface or grooved upper edge of the plate 7'(Figure 2), and id is an arcuate uide surface on the standard d alongwhic the arcuate edge of the plate j travels. J is a portion cut out ofthe lower edge of the plate j to form a surface suitable for theactuating the shaft h, extending radially therefrom and provided with afriction roller h at its outer end. The plate j rests because of itsweight against the roller h and as the shaft it rotates said roller actsagainst the lower edge of said platezto oscillate said plate upwardaround the pivot 7' the surface 7' acting to permit the plate jto remainat rest for a moment at the upper limit of its travel.

7:: (Figure 2) represents an electric motor which may be used to operatethe machine. This has a sprocket-wheel is upon its shaft and conveyspower through a sprocket-chain k and a.sprocket-Wheel m to a shaft m.

m is a thread upon the shaftm engaging the teeth of a worm wheel n upona horizontal shaft nresting horizontally in bearings on the frame f andextending parallel to the shafts g and h. n is a sprocket-wheel on theshaft n and gn is a sprocket-chain passing over the sprocket-wheels nand g 8 is a feed trough which receives nuts from the groove 8 in theupper edge'of the plate j and delivers them to the feeding device of themachine.

3 is an arm pivoted at one end to a stationary pivot 4 upon the frame ofthe machine extending approximately parallel and above the trough 8. 6is a short shaft adapted to turn in a hearing at the lower free end ofthe arm 3 and driven by a sprocket-chain and wheels from the shaft 12..2 is a wheel with a grooved periphery adapted to turn more or less uponthe shaft 6.

The shaft 6'is connected by the yielding spring 16 (Figure 3) to afriction clutch 16 which is thus interposed between the shaft and saidwheel so that the wheel shall not turn at all times and wear out itsrubber tire.

7 is a rubber tire on the grooved wheel 2. The tire 7 rests upon thenuts delivered under it by the trough 8 and forces said nuts toward thesetting spindle.

F, f, are two horizontal pro]ect1ons from the frame respectively, havingbearings rf, and p in t eir outer ends. a

g is a vertical sleeve bearing and ada ted to rotate in the stationarybearing p. T e up per end of the sleeve q is formed to present'a conicalfriction surface 9? which may be covered with a suitable frictionmaterial 9 g is a conical gear wheel fixed to the lower end of thesleeve 9. m is a conical gear wheel on the outer end of the shaft m theteeth of which engage the teeth of the gear wheel g.

1- is a hollow spindle fitting and adapted to reciprocate longitudinallythrough the bore of the sleeve 9 and also fittin and adapted toreciprocate and rotate in the caring rf at the end of the projection 7.1'9 is a conical clutch keyed upon the spindle 1' but adapted toreciprocate longitudinally on said spindle to engage or free the conicalsurface 9 on the sleeve q. s is a lever arm pivoted at s to the frame 7and engaging the clutch 1'9 by a groove and fork connection 8 11 is acable connected to the lever s and to the cable 11 leading downwardaround suitable pulleys to a pedal 10 at the lower portion of themachine.

u is a'plunger fitting and adapted to reciprocate longitudinally 1n thebore of the spindle r. The lower end of said bore is made hexagonal soas to receive a nut and hold it in posltion as hereinafter described.The lower end of the plunger u is formed at m to fit and reciprocate inthe hexagonal portion of the bore of the spindle 1'. tu is a cylindricalcap secured at the top of the plunger u so as to permit said plun er torotate therein but constrained from rebative motion longitudinally ofsaid plunger. t is a lever-arm plvoted at ft to the upper end of astandard 7" rising from the frame 7. The lever arm t is connected at itsouter end to the cap tu so as to reciprocate said cap vertically. t is aspring acting upon the lever arm 23 to holdsaid cap atthe upper limit ofits travel. 11 is a cab-1e secured at its upper end to the lever arm textending downward around suitable its lower end.

7* is an annulus upon the spindle r secured pulleys to a pedal 10 at inposition by a set screw 1'. r is a longitudinal groove in the surface ofthe spindle r.

, The cone-clutch 1'9 is provided which engages in the groove 1* so asto permit relative motion of said spindle and clutch and preventrelative angular movement. 7 is an annulus secured by a set screw 1" tothe spindle r and provided with a tooth 1" at its upper edge adapted toengage a tooth 799 at the lower surface of the cap pg, said teeth actingas engaging lugs to fix a relative angular position of the spindle 1'.

r is an aperture formed through the walls of the spindle 7' towards itslower end. The lower wall of said aperture is in line with the bottomofthe trough 8 at the delivery end of said trough when the spindle r isat the upper with a key end of its travel and is fixed in this positionby the teeth 1" and p9 The. upper wall of the aperture 1' is chamferedto a sharp edge at 1' 7 15, 15 (Figure 13) are two branches of a springframe united at their upper ends by a laterally extending loop 15 andprovided at their lower ends with cross bars 15, 15".

This frame is fitted into suitable grooves formed in the bore of thespindle 1' at its lower end so that the bars 15" shall act 'as yieldingsupports to the nuts in the bore of said spindle.

The pedal 10 has the cable 11 attached thereto and is provided with anoverhanging attachment 12. 13 is a rod extending downward from a portionof the frame f and provided with an adjusting turn buckle 13 14 is aspring between the treadle and the rod 18.

The operation of the above described machine is as follows:

A quantity of suitable nuts are placed in the hopper e and motion' iscommunicated to the parts from the motor 70. When the upper edge of theplate jcomes below the nuts in the hopper the nuts must fall into thegroove 8 some in correct position to be fed along said groove, some ininverted position, and some with corners extending over the flange 8When the plate y'. is forced to its upper position by the lever arm hthe nuts that are correctly located are fed along said groove anddelivered to the upper end of the feed trough 8, All other nuts fallback into the hopper e.

The nuts in the trough 8 are fed along the same by gravity and under therubber rim or tire 7 of the wheel 2 and are thereby forced by thefriction of the rim toward and into the spindle 1- through the aperturesT The lever t is now drawn downward by the cable 11 and pedal 10,carrying the plunger '21 with it until the lower end of cap tu strikesagainst the annulus 1". At this time the lower end of the plunger M hasforced the nut in the bore of the spindle 1' down to the lower 7 end ofsaid spindle, where it is yieldingly supported by the rods 15", 15". Afurther movement of the pedal 10 forces the spindle 1' down until thenut at its lower end engages over the upper end of the bolt 0 (Fig. 7).

lVhen the spindle 1 has been carried down till the tooth W is freed fromthe tooth 129 the further movement of the pedal 10 draws downward on thelever s which causes the clutch T9 to engage more positively with theconical portion 9 of the sleeve q. As said sleeve is being rotated bythe gear wheel m I g the spindle r is set in motion turning the (ill nutand screwing it up on its bolt 0 and setting it to place with therequired force.

\Vhen the pedal 10 is released the friction in the clutch greatlylessens taking the torque off the wrench head so thatthe latter may slipoif the nut, the spring 23 lifts the lever t carrying the plunger u upuntil a shoulder upon it engages a shoulder on the spindle 1' and thenWhen the spindle r is forced downthe.

chamfered wall 7 of the aperture, r is inserted between the nut in thebore of the spindle and the following nut in the aperture 1" and forcesthe following nut back out of the aperture 1. The wheel 2 may yield topermit this because of the spring 16 and clutch 16 connecting it withits shaft 6.

Should there be a defective. nut that does not engage the bolt it willbe yieldingly held in position and will be forced out of the lower endof the spindle at the next operation of the machine.

By adapting the trough, or track, 8. and aperture 7' in the side of thespindle, as shown in Fi ures 14 and 15 respectively, the machine may emade to feed andset cap-screws and the like to position.

lVhere the'word nut is used, therefore, it is to be understood asreferring broadly to articles adapted to be handled in substantially theway described.

The lower part of the spindle 1' is made detachable to form a wrenchhead in order that this part may be easily removed and replaced by apart adapted to the particular work required. The end of the plunger uacts to straighten the nut in the bore of the spindle, or wrench headand is helped in this bytne spring at the delivery end.

What I claim is:

1. In an apparatus of the kind described, a spindle, means forreciprocating and rotating said spindle, said spindle being providedwith an aperture through its side wall, said spindle being adapted toreceive and set a nut in place, means for feeding nuts consecutively tosaid spindle through said aperture, one wall of said aperture beingchamfered to separate the nut being fed toward said spindle from thenuts in said spindle. 2. In an apparatusof the kind described, thecombination of a spindle adapted to receive and adjust a nut to place,said spindle having an aperture through its side, means for feeding nutsthrough said aperture, a yielding driving means adapted to rotate saidspindle and means for arresting the rotating motion of said spindle whensaid aperture is in position to receive a nut from said feeding means.

3. In an apparatus of the kind described, a nut setting spindle, meansfor reciprocating said spindle, a yielding means acting to rotate saidspindle, saidspindle being provided with an aperture through its sidewall, means for feeding nuts to said spindle through said aperture, astationary lug, a lug upon said spindle adapted to engage saidstationary wheel,'and a spring and friction clutch inlug when saidspindle is at one end of its re-- ciprocating stroke and said apertureis in means pos1t-1on to recelve a nut from said feeding ing said sindle longitudinally thereof, an

aperture t rough the side of said spindle means for feedmg nuts to andthrough sai aperture, a lunger adapted to reciprocate longitudina y insaid spindle and to act upon each nut that has passed through saidaperture to force it to the delivery end of the saidspindle.

5. In an apparatus of the kind described, the combination of a spindle,means for rotating said spindle and means for reciprocating the samelongitudinally thereof, a plunger in said spindle adapted ,toreciprocate therein, said spindle being provided terp'osed between saidwheel and its turning In testimony whereof, I sign specification.

with an aperture through its side wall, means I for feeding nuts throughsaid aperture, said plunger being adapted to be retracted when saidspindle is retracted and to be forced forward and to force a nut to thedelivery end 4 of said spindle before said spindle is forced;

forward to adjust. the nut to place.

I 6. In an apparatus of the kind described, a spindle adapted to receiveand set nuts to place, the end of said spindle having an aperturethrough its side wall adapted to receive a nut and being removable andhaving a bore shaped'to the cross section of a nut and adapted to permita nut to slide longitudinally therein whereby said end is adapted to'form a wrench head.

I walls at the delivery end of said bore of a spring frame having a loop15? and the limbs 15, 15 fitting in said slots and supporting lugs onsaid limbs.

8. In an apparatus of'the kind described,

the combination of the sleeve 9, means for rotating said sleeve, aspindle 1' coaxial with said sleeve and adapted to turn and reciprocat-erelative thereto, a clutch part rg keyed upon said shaft so as toreciprocate relative thereto and adapted to be frictionally engaged withand disengaged from said sleeve, :1 plunger passing axially in saidspindle and having a limited longitudinal movement relative thereto, andmeans for actuating said plunger longitudinally and the said spindle andthen to engage said clutch part.

9. In an apparatus of the kind described, the combination of a nutsetting apparatus, means for feeding nuts to said apparatus, consistingin part of a wheel engaging said nuts at its periphery to force themtoward said setting apparatus, means for turning said

